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* Exxon posts first annual loss as publicly listed company
* Amazon.com, Alphabet among top boosts to S&P 500
(Updates to close)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks finished up sharply for a
second straight day on Tuesday, helped by gains in Amazon.com
and Google-parent Alphabet ahead of their results and by
optimism over progress on a U.S. pandemic relief package.
Alphabet GOOGL.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O were among
the top boosts to the S&P 500. Each were set to post
fourth-quarter results after the bell, with Alphabet expected to
report the cost and operating profit of its Google Cloud
business for the first time. More than 80% of reports from S&P 500 companies so far have
surpassed analysts' earnings expectations, with 97% of reports
from technology companies beating, according to IBES data from
Refinitiv.
Investors also were optimistic as Democrats in Congress
prepared to take the first steps toward fast-track passage of
President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Adding to the upbeat mood, new cases of COVID-19 in the
United States fell for a third week in a row, the first time
since last September. "Some form of the Biden proposal will pass, and there are
certainly investors who are willing to look down the road and
think the market and economy will look brighter," said Rick
Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments, a family investment
office in New Vernon, New Jersey.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
476.09 points, or 1.58%, to 30,688, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
52.37 points, or 1.39%, to 3,826.23 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 209.38 points, or 1.56%, to 13,612.78.
The recent market mania driven by retail traders over
heavily shorted assets showed some signs of fizzling out.
GameStop Corp GME.N , one of the stocks that had been pushed up
sharply in the frenzy, sank for a second day. "Hedge funds are looking for places to put money and the
easy trade for them is to go into big-cap stocks and probably
the broad market in general, just to ensure that they are not
left behind," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at
Inverness Counsel in New York, New York. "That's probably where
we're getting all of the extra flows here."
Wall Street's fear gauge, the Cboe Volatility index .VIX ,
retreated.
Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N posted its first annual loss as a
public company. However, its shares were higher as its quarterly
adjusted profit topped estimates. Shares of United Parcel Service Inc UPS.N climbed after it
beat quarterly profit estimates on a surge in home delivery
volume due to pandemic-fueled online purchases of holiday gifts
and staples.